OSV News photo/CNS file, Michael Hoyt, Catholic Standard

ATLANTA—For Joe Barker, making sure students have winter coats for a zero-degree New England winter is as much a part of the job as helping them to earn their college diplomas.

It’s part of the care he brings to support more than two-dozen students enrolled at eight colleges and universities.

Barker is the executive director of the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Education Foundation, a nonprofit scholarship organization with a three-decade history of serving Black young adults attending Catholic colleges.

Joe Barker, the executive director of the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Education Foundation, speaks about the nonprofit scholarship organization and how it serves the Black young adults attending Catholic colleges. Photo by Julianna Leopold

“We’re not necessarily trying to serve more students because we accept that we are a niche foundation. We work with our scholars in very personal, intimate ways and care for them and mentor them and walk beside them on their journey,” said Barker, who has been leading the organization for five years.

The foundation began in 1989 at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. Sister Thea Bowman herself attended the inaugural event.

As a member of the Franciscan Order of Perpetual Adoration, Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman is on the road to canonization. She is one of the “Saintly Seven” of African American Catholics being considered for sainthood.

Barker, 57, worships at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Atlanta’s West End, his home parish for nearly 50 years. His late father served as a deacon for decades, and his mother was a longtime “church mother” at the parish, leading the rosary ministry. He’s worked in Catholic education for the past 10 years.

The foundation supported N’dea Delfish as she earned her bachelor’s degree in business management from Boston College in May. An Atlanta native, she attended Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School. She is one of six scholarship students from the Atlanta area.

Receiving the scholarship was “the cherry on top” after she received the acceptance letter from the highly selective college. The 22-year-old studied business with a concentration in marketing and completed a dual degree in African and African Diaspora Studies.

Delfish said the scholarship helped lift her anxiety about finances.

“It took that weight off and made me be able to immerse myself in the experience a lot more,” she said.

Once on campus, Delfish found a deeper connection. The community hub for students of color is named in honor of the religious sister. The Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center became a familiar place as she transitioned from her Atlanta upbringing to Boston during her early years on campus.

“It just felt so full circle to me and kind of really told me that I was in the right space,” she said.  Delfish said she felt surrounded by the religious sister’s legacy through “my scholarship, but just at my school every day as well.”

N’dea Delfish stands against flags of the schools that Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School’s students have been accepted to. She is a recipient of the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Education Foundation Scholarship for her education at Boston College. Delfish studied business with a concentration in marketing and completed a dual degree in African and African Diaspora Studies in May. Photo by Julianna Leopold

Although she is not Catholic, Delfish said the scholarship program introduced her to the sister’s belief in the value of education.

“It’s easy to take education for granted when it’s so easily accessible. You kind of forget it is a privilege and not everybody has that. In this scholarship, I’m reminded of that and I’m able to take so much gratitude from that.”

The foundation has a national reach as a small nonprofit. It supports two dozen students attending eight partner Catholic colleges and universities in New England and the Midwest. According to federal tax documents, it reported $443,000 in revenue in 2025, most of it from charitable contributions.

Barker works with pastors and guidance counselors to identify high school graduates. First, the students have to independently earn acceptance to one of the colleges. The Bowman scholarship can be as high as $10,000 and is renewed annually. Since he became the executive director, 85% of scholars have graduated, Barker said.

The financial award for students is just one aspect of the foundation, along with moral, spiritual and social support. He also shepherds the Bowman scholars attending a summer spiritual seminar before they start their freshman year and then throughout their college years.

The summer sessions for Delfish became a source of connection with people, a sounding board during hard times and a place to share college experiences. She later became a mentor to incoming scholarship recipients.

“It was really comforting to know that people across the country that hail from different places are having similar experiences to me,” she said. “I was able to take in a lot of mentors and hear all these different opinions and just get so many gems from different people. I really am so grateful to not only be able to get mentorship, but also pass that along as well, and to grow with the scholarship.”